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The proxy of my Nids continued, though they are now under construction. For those who didn't read my last batrep it was a draw vs. gunline /counter charge Marines. I wanted a test vs. a fighty Marine list, so I challenged a Space Wolf player. Another reason I did it was that he's always a fun guy to play against.

I had:

Parasite of Mortrex
Nid Prime w/double boneswords
4 Warriors w/1 venom cannon
4 Warriors w/1 venom cannon
3 Lictors
3 Pyrovores w/Spod w/twinlinked deathspitters
5 Ymgarl Stealers
7 Ravagers w/rending claws
7 Ravagers w/rending claws
10 Gargoyles
1 Tyrannofex w/rupture cannon
1 Mawloc

Same list as last time, save that I'd dropped 4 Ravagers and 5 Gargoyles to make room for a Mawloc. Wanted to test the landshark out.

My foe had:

Wolf Priest (chaplain guy)
Wolf Priest (chaplain guy)
Wolf Priest (chaplain guy) w/jump pack
Rune Priest (librarian guy) familiar, living lightning, jaws
10 Grey Hunters w/Wolf Guard w/combi melta + fist, + meltagun + wolf standard, rhino
10 Grey Hunters w/Wolf Guard w/combi melta + fist, + meltagun + wolf standard, rhino
10 Grey Hunters w/Wolf Guard w/combi melta + fist, + meltagun + wolf standard, rhino
6 Grey Hunters w/at least one plasma gun, not sure on what other wargear, rhino
5 Long Fangs w/2 lascannons 3 missile launchers
5 Long Fangs w/2 lascannons 3 missile launchers
10 Skyclaws (jump pack blood claws), w/1 fist
2 multi melta land speeders

Basically he had 4 rhinos with tough guys, 2 dev squads, the melta speeder squadron and some jump packers

Mission: Annihilation, Dawn of War

Nids go first

I put my warriors up in the center in terrain, everyone else walks on, save for elites which are in reserve, and the Prime who is with the Pyrovores in their spod. Mawloc submerges

Wolves 1:

He moves south, rhinos move 12, jet pack guys jump out in front and run 6 to get far forward, they are in their charge range of my warriors, but not in 12" for me to charge. Long Fangs move up into terrain and run to spread out in case of mawloc.

Nids 2:

Lictors arrive, they land in his side in the terrain and shoot, but fail to do anything to a rhino (3 hits, 3 2's to pen) Mawloc tries to land under the long fangs (we play Adepticon FAQ), but scatters out into the middle. Bright spot is that the warriors fire on the jump packers with their devourers and kill 7 (preposterously unlikely, 18 shots, hit on 4's and wound on 4's shouldn't even have dealt 7 wounds). No check needed as the Wolves have a chaplain with them. Tyrannofex (who is playing back to hide from jaws) stuns a rhino

Wolves 2:

He gets a foot squad out of his vehicle and charges the Mawloc, it has a chaplain with it and is joined by the wolf jump pack guys, they also shoot it with one of the dev squads, and pop the foot squads banner. The mawloc is erased. The lictors are charged by a 10 man squad that also pops it's banner, once again the Marines kill all of the nids, lose a few

Nids 3:

The Parasite and his gargoyles charge the stunned rhino and the jump packers, he immobilizes and takes off it's weapon (wtf? I can't kill rhinos this game!) The gargoyles lose to the jump pack guys, but they stay locked. The Tyrannofex takes careful aim at a full rhino and kill it's weapon. Sigh. The goyles jump that rhino (which has moved > 6 anyway) and destroy it. The Ymgarl's appear and destroy a long fang squad except for one (they are on the wrong side though, doh!). The Pyrovores land and burn the foot squad that killed the mawloc, killing 6.

Wolves 3:

His 2 10 man grey hunter units that are untouched charge the ravagers and kill them all, after the remaining long fangs soften them up. The damaged squad goes in to rescue the jump packs, but the parasite gets the last (not the chappy though) at init 6. It doesn't make any rippers. They kill it and it's gargoyle. The last long fang in the far squad dies fighting the ymgarl's, who 6 inch massacre towards the game.

Nids 4:

The ymgarls move, fleet 6 and crush that immobilzied rhino (8 pens, wtf?) The untouched ravagers jump the nearer grey hunter squad and kill them. Also in that combat are the pyrovores and Nid Prime. They draw the mangled grey hunter squad in, with a multi charge. Those guys break, but only run 2 inches, so they are still within 6" of the prime.

Wolves 4:

Librarian and his squad rhino up the field a ways (this is the last uncommited squad, the small one). He tries jaws on the Tyrannofex but is 1" out, and takes a perils for his troubles. Other wolf guard squad counter charges raveners + prime, does massive damage, leaving just 3 ravagers and killing the prime through combat res. The Pyrovores died in the last round, their explosions and acid helped mitigate their deaths (blew up 6 inches and 5 inches respectively, killed 2 marines, and go another 2 with acid sprays).

Nids 5: Warriors counter charge into the last grey hunter squad, tilting the combat in my favor. Ymgarl's (2 left after getting shot by long fangs) move over to escort the broken squad, then charge into the long fangs increasing their toughness. It works, they are locked and in 6".

Wolves 5: Grey hunters fall back off the board, another chaplain dies, they fail to kill Ymgarl or last ravager in combat. Librarian tries Jaws on Tyrannofex, but it rolls a 2 and survives. Speeders finally deep strike in and kill the spod.

Ultimately wolves have killed: spod, pyrovores, lictors, ravagers 1, prime, parasite, gargoyle, mawloc
Nids have killed: 2 chaplains, 3 Grey hunter squads, 1 jump pack squad, 2 rhinos, 1 long fang squad.

Nids win by 1 KP.

Story of each unit:

Parasite: Immobilized a stationary rhino, killed a SW w/pfist
Prime: Landed and stood around, executed a Chaplain, died to combat res
Warriors: Good shooting and fighting, survived (killed approx 10 wolves between the 2 squads of them)
Ravagers 2: Killed rhino, 3-4 wolves, wiped out.
Ravagers 1: Killed chaplain, 2 grey hunter squads
Gargoyles: Died. Enabled parasite multi-charge of rhino and jet pack marines
Pyrovores: Got some wolves, with help though, killed 6 with shooting, 1 in combat, 2 by dying, 3 ran off table. Pyrovores squishd by fist.
Lictors: Failed to kill rhino, killed 2 wolves
Ymgarl: Killed Long fang unit, killed rhino, escorted grey hunter unit off table, didn't die (MVP)
Mawloc: Scattered off target. Killed one SW as he died.
Tyrannofex: Fired 4 times, round 1 no target, round 2 stunned a rhino, round 3 took a weapon off a rhino, rounds 4 and 5 missed both shots.

Side note, I'm going to be less active online, my work has improved their internet filter, now blocks dakka.

I continue to watch your list with interest. I have no desire to emulate it (too many metal raveners, and I'm getting impatient with age), but it's fun to spectate!

As I play more games with my stealer-heavy 'nids, I'm coming to like the Ymgarl more and more. They screw up enemy deployments, and they screw with my opponents' heads when they do arrive. As a bonus, they're nasty little buggies when they charge, too. I'm amazed you got so much mileage out of just five; I typically use 8.

Wow...good job. I'm surprised that you won with such a hodge-podge list. Must be experimenting with the different units.

Nice report and interesting list as usual.

However, I feel your list is quite limited vs tanks...
how do you handle land raiders ? soulgrinders ? ironclads ?

I'm not too sold on the mawloc, kinda too much "hit or miss" for me.

i tried the ymgarl, and they're damn effective. (i used 8 of them though, still surprising the damage that only 5 can make).

Nice list, a lot of non-standard solutions. I like that :-)

<3 Ymgarls. I think 5 is enough for most jobs.

However, you seem a bit light on the objective holding side. How do your list work for objective missions?

Thanks for the batrep. Nid traffic is dying down, and its seeming like most everyone has lost interest in them except a select few, now that that the shiny blood angels are out...

Sad to hear about your lack of dakka access, one less nid player to chat with... arghhh!

Good Batrep! glad to see a victory over those Space puppies.

Your Mawloc has preformed about as well as mine has, in my test games with him. I prefer the Trygon over him, in just about every case.


The Warriors were doing awesome! that I'm glad to see. Warriors are one my favorite units in the Dex' and I hate all the doom and gloom surrounding them because of ID.

Keep up the good work!

I'm intrigued that you can make this list work... with only two scoring units... warriors are tough, I'll grant you that, but any player that knows about their lack of EW would slaughter them in an objective game. At least, I would think so. Am I missing something? Do you only play KP missions?

@Janth: There are plastic Raveners now, they come 3 to a set, and have rending claws for all! It's pretty awesome.

The Ymgarl's have been great in this game. In my first game they charged a pair of stationary rhinos and did nothing. Actually, over all, the units basically all reversed what they did in this game vs. my first, where in this one they did well they did poor earlier, and vice versa.

@jy2: The theme of this list is that it gets over and messes with a gunline. I'm sick of them, I want to beat some gunlines with assault. This list is my stab at making a Nid list that has the mobility and sneak attack power to take on mech gunlines and win.

@Arleucs: I handle land raiders and the like with the Tyrannofex, in theory. The lictors can also appear behind the walkers and shoot s6 into their backs (and fight ok vs. them, with s6 rending). The Parasite is more s6 rending, while the ravagers are massed s4 rending. The Ymgarl's can be instant s4 rending to most enemy's, or 5 if they need it. Even the Pyrovores can mess up things that are armor ten and mostly rely on moving fast (DE raiders, Trukks, particularly if they are clumped) Mostly I just fight the things that come out of the vehicles.

I hear you about the Mawloc, but this is only his first game, I'm waiting to see how he can work. I'm very enthused about his ability to contest enemy objectives as the game winds down. Also an ideal scenario could have him jumping in on a unit that the Lictors had just hit and run out of, and not scattering. We'll see. Probably a Trygon is better, but landshark is just such a cool concept.

@Mellon:

I agree about the Ymgarl's, I think 5 is enough for most of their proper jobs. Obective holding, I mostly just try and take one objective, which I place in cover deep in my zone. If the enemy has a lot of fierce long range s8 or > shooting I reserve the warriors. In general my plan is to blitz them very hard with all the units appearing in their DZ and the fast parasite/gargoyles/raveners, never give them time to shoot at the warriors who will go to ground. This is my playstyle as a whole, in every list I make. I'm all about using the cool stuff, min troops to hold objectives is a continuing theme.

@Shep:

I think Nids will still be popular. True that we aren't the new kids on the block now, but they suck anyway.

@Sasori:

I was shocked at how well the warriors did. Last game was objectives, so they just sat back and shot the venom cannons, which were utterly useless. Great to see them excel. If only there hadn't been so many chaplains so that the devourers could have worked to their fullest.

@Fox:

Hopefully being in cover, going to ground, in extreme cases starting in reserve are enough. Mainly the same weapons that can kill the warriors are needed for the Raveners/Lictors/MC's/etc. that are bearing down on them. There isn't much in my list you don't want to be shooting with missile launchers and lascannons. I've never had someone really try to take out my scoring (just 2 games so far). We'll see how it goes. I'm hoping that with my elites and fast attacks we can put folks on the back foot hard and fast enough that they haven't the leisure to shoot the (2/3 hit, 5/6 wound, 1/3 get past gone to ground cover, for 10/48, or basically 1/5) 40 lascannon shots it would take to kill off my warriors.

Thanks to everyone who responded. I think fast nids can work, but will keep testing and batrepping.

This is such an interesting list and it is nice to see warriors and Raveners getting some bug-love. Keep up the good work! I look forward to how your list evolves. Kind of a shame that your Mawloc did a poor impersonation of a Tremor and the Wolves did their impersations of Burt just fine. :\

I like the list. I like the variety which is a powerful tool in list building. I would consider switching the pyrovores for zopes. Zopes would add to your mech busting abilities and they would also add a bit of synapse to the enemy deployment zone. However with all the hate the pyrovore gets your reputation wouuld get a boost if you could get them to work well in a list.


My idea of a bug list is to mess with my opponents deployment. Outflanking stealers help to confine my opponent's deployment. Lictors, Ymgarls and the Mawloc take advantage of that confined deployment. I would even like to add in FA spore mines to further restrict my opponents deployment.

I have always been a fan of the rending raveners, but keeping them in synapse seems to be a problem as they can move so fast. I see the parasite helps to solve that for you.

I'm going to join in on the lovefest for Ymgarls. They have great range, are great for setting up multicharges, and the 4+ save comes in handy.

I'd really like to try out some Shrikes. It seems like no one's been playtesting them much (at least publicly). Their weaknesses are obvious and Ravs probably do everything they can for a cheaper price. Still, they at least wouldn't have the synapse problem.

Gorgon, I agree with you about the shrikes. I think they could be better than raveners if you find situations to take advantage of their boneswords and that they can take toxin sacs and adrenal glands. Something like: 5x shrikes, 2xBS, toxin 250p compared to 7x raveners w RC 245p. Then fav targets would be MCs, nobz (both MANz or bikers), TWC, ghazghkull when he is not waaaghed and similar high toughness, high armor save and multiwound models. If I remember correctly Mephiston lacks both an inv save and the Eternal Warrior rule.

Considering they bring their own synapse and a 12" move that ignores terrain they could probably be better considered better than raveners. A table with a lot of LoS-blocking terrain could make them more valuable.